Authorities in Serbia say 11,000 villagers are trapped by heavy snow and blizzards as a cold spell grips eastern Europe.

A police official, Predrag Maric, said remote mountainous areas of Serbia could not be reach by icy, snow-clogged roads.

He said the most "dramatic" situation was near Sijenica, in Serbia's south-west, where it has been freezing cold or snowing for 26 days and diesel fuel supplies used by snowploughs are running low.

The death toll in Europe from a week of freezing weather rose to 113 people, with reports of 20 more deaths in Ukraine, nine more in Poland and one more in Serbia.

The Polish government said the victims there were mostly homeless people under the influence of alcohol who had sought shelter in unheated buildings. Officials appealed to the public to quickly help anyone they saw in need.

In Ukraine, 63 people have died from the cold in the last week. Nearly 950 others were hospitalised with hypothermia and frostbite, and more than 2,000 heated tents have been set up with hot food for the homeless.

In Romania, three ships – one German, one Dutch and one Romanian – were blocked by ice on the Danube river. In Bulgaria, where 16 towns recorded their lowest temperatures since records started 100 years ago, large sections of the Danube were frozen.

In the Netherlands, Dutch authorities have banned boats from some of Amsterdam's canals and waterways in the hope of turning the water to ice and allow residents to go skating.